After nearly nine months on the market, fans of The Last of Us are finally on the verge of playing the highly anticipated DLC add-on, “Left Behind.” Players who tinkered with the game’s multiplayer offering have likely enjoyed the steady influx of new content, such as the “Abandoned Territories Map Pack” and characters customizations (not to mention upgraded day one single player stats), but there’s no doubt that “Left Behind” is the add-on most season pass holders have been waiting to play.

While the multiplayer component has been a worthwhile bonus for gamers that enjoy the core stealth/limited ammo combat mechanics of The Last of Us, the game isn’t taking home major industry awards for its online component. For most gamers, it was the intimate character journey and unique twist on the “zombie” genre that made The Last of Us a game of the year contender. As a result, what fan wouldn’t want to step back into Naughty Dog‘s post-apocalyptic world?

If you haven’t been following news on the “Left Behind” DLC, here’s the latest word from Sony:

Left Behind tells the story of Ellie and Riley. It continues the themes of survival, loyalty, and love that we explored in the full game. We wanted to dig deeper into the events that transformed Ellie into the fighter players were introduced to on her fateful meeting with Joel. What does it mean for two teenagers to survive in a world that offers little hope? How far will you go to save yourself? How far will you go to save the ones you love?

While you might think you know how Left Behind ends, there are plenty of surprises and insights into who Ellie is. Fans of The Last of Us will not want to miss this new chapter that ties directly into the main story.

We know where Ellie ends up in the long run – given that “Left Behind” is a prequel story, prior to Ellie’s encounter with Joel. However, the tease of “plenty of surprises and insights into who Ellie is” certainly indicates that we’re going to learn a lot more about the character overall – not just play through an earlier part of her story. After all, even though she comes to trust and care for Joel, Ellie is still a pretty guarded person in The Last of Us – it certainly sounds as though her time with Riley will help showcase a different element of her personality. The trailer alone reveals that, even while struggling to survive with Riley, Ellie is more carefree, more childlike, and more playful, than she is around Joel.

Since The Last of Us takes place twenty full years after the cordyceps spreads to humans, and Ellie is only fourteen years old when she meets Joel, players won’t get to see more of the initial fungi-apocalypse outbreak; yet, the trailer and prior gameplay details suggest that the DLC will feature more semi-populated areas where humans attempt to rebuild as well as further stories of solo survivors trying to make a life amidst the destruction. While the trailer highlights a moment where Riley is forced to threaten someone with a gun, the majority of gameplay in “Left Behind” will be slightly different than Joel’s shooting/melee combat in the main game – with an emphasis on stealth and traps.

To prepare the way for The Last of Us, Naughty Dog is releasing a major patch for the title – which adds components to the existing package that prepare the game for “Left Behind” (including 10 new DLC trophies) in addition to significant multiplayer tweaks. Patch 1.06 is expected to weigh-in at 103 MB and go live sometime today while “Left Behind” is reported to be a sizable 5 GB download, available at 1am EST/10pm PST tonight (from the time of this writing).

Just thinking out loud, given the Ellen Page news today, wouldn’t it be funny if Ellie turned out to be gay? I mean, it wouldn’t be totally out of left field. Plus it would be pretty amazing, considering we’d be getting another gay character who isn’t defined entirely by their sexuality.
Plus it would be pretty hilarious if Page and a character accused of “stealing her look” came out within the same span of time…..